Be bold and brave, but be yourselves: Bert's message to Socceroos

France have all the big-name players, the superstars and are expected to see off Australia with the minimum of fuss when the two nations meet on Saturday in their World Cup opener in Kazan.

But if Australia are to cause one of the great World Cup upsets, they have to do one thing, according to their coach Bert van Marwijk.

The players must simply be themselves.

They must go out on the pitch and not be overawed by the reputations of their opponents.

They must play the man, rather than the myth, where the French stars are concerned.

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Bert van Marwijk wants his chargers to be themselves. Credit:AAP

The Socceroos must truly believe that they have it within them to beat their highly regarded opponents, and they must stick to their game plan with discipline and intelligence, improvising as the need arises.

Eight years ago he took a good Dutch team sprinkled with a handful of stars such as Arjen Robben and Wesley Schneijder to the final in Johannesburg, losing to a solitary Andres Iniesta goal four minutes from the end of extra time that gave Spain the trophy.

The Dutchman knows that Australia must work hard, press from the front, try to stop France playing through the lines and hope that goalkeeper Mat Ryan has the game of his life when called up.

France's first choice front three - Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe (who is in doubt with an ankle injury) and Ousmane Dembele - are among the most feared strike forces in the world - but they can be contained if Australia are fully focused and play with structure, as well as enjoying a little luck.

The key to it all, he stresses, is self belief. It's what helped the Netherlands overcome opponents such as Uruguay and Brazil en route to that final in South Africa in 2010.

''One of the most important things in my experience, playing against a country like France, is that you must be yourself. It's easier to say than in practice but you have to have the guts to play and be yourself.

Upbeat: The Socceroos are enjoying home comforts in Kazan ahead of their World Cup opener against France. It is helping them relax before their game one pressure cooker. Credit:AAP

''My experience also with the Dutch team, is that when suddenly Pogba is standing in front of you or Griezmann, and Mbappe and the big full-backs Mendy and Sidibe, you must not be impressed.

''You can can have respect but you must not be impressed. You must be yourself. Normally you get that feeling when you get the experience, but we have to do it at once.''

He knows that men such as Mile Jedinak, Mark Milligan and Tim Cahill have been involved in several World Cups and should not freeze in the big moments.

He suggests his Dutch side can provide Australia with a template for how to approach this match, as can Atletico Madrid, a team he much admires, who for years have shown that despite not having a budget as big as their main rivals a team can be competitive. If it plays as a team.

''I played with Holland at a World Cup against Brazil and I said to them ‘be yourselves’, it's very important.

''All the tactics (matter) , but we have to be ourselves, because when you play in a stadium with 90,000 people everything is different then.

''We play against Brazil and we were very well prepared and I had the same conversation with players about being themselves. And I trusted them also, but the first 20-25 minutes I didn’t know what I saw.

''We were impressed by the Brazilians, (big men in) tight shirts and they were running in front of me and maybe they could score two, three goals. But they scored one.

Robbie Kruse will use his Champions League experience in the France clash. Credit:AP

''After 25 minutes, slowly we became ourselves then I said to my assistant coach Frank de Boer when we keep it 1-0 at half time we have a chance. And in the second half we were ourselves and we won 2-1. We could lose 3-0, but we could also win 4 or 5-1. So it’s very important. I’ve already spoken with the players about this situation, for a few days, every day about this because that’s very important.''

Striker Robbie Kruse, who is hoping to start his first World Cup match having missed 2014 through injury, knows exactly what van Marwijk means.

''I’ve been through it. When I was at (Bayer) Leverkusen I was fortunate enough to play in the Champions League and you are against some big names.

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''You can’t fear them. You’ve got to go out and be yourself. It’s the most difficult part of playing these big players, being overawed, particularly when you’re in the line-up, coming out to the field and you see these big names. Big salaries. Huge presence. You can get can get intimidated and change the way you play.

''Its about being brave and being game enough to play your own game. That’s the biggest task for us as well. Bert drums that into us all the time. We need to be ourselves.

''We know we can do it, we’ve done it against good teams in the past.

''Look at the Confederations Cup against Chile, we matched it and were probably unlucky not to win the game and get out of the group and at the time they were one of the strongest in the world.

''It’s just first game against France, it's always intimidating, but it's about controlling those emotions and being brave enough to be yourself and try to play the football we need to.''

Michael Lynch, The Age's expert on soccer, has had extensive experience of high level journalism in the UK and Australia. Michael has covered the Socceroos through Asia, Europe and South America in their past three World Cup campaigns. He has also reported on Grands Prix and top class motor sport from Asia and Europe. He has won several national media awards for both sports and industry journalism.